Mumbai: Sanket More, a six-year-old boy from Aurangabad who was diagnosed with a complex heart defect, successfully underwent a repair surgery at the Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital on May 19.
Hospital sources said Sanket’s heart was located on the right side of his chest, and all the heart chambers and arteries were also on the other side. Sanket had a large hole in his heart, and the artery connecting to the lungs was narrow, resulting in poor supply of impure blood to the lungs for purification. As his coronary arterial courses were crowded, an area could not be chosen to connect the heart and lungs with the interposition conduits.
The More family is from a poor socio-economic background. They chose the highly complex repair surgery because it would provide Sanket a near normal life.
Sanket arrived at the hospital two months ago, after being recommended by Dr. Pankaj Sugaonkar, a paediatric cardiologist from Pune. He underwent an initial clinical evaluation followed up by a detailed echocardiography to confirm the findings and to chart the surgical path. The team of attending doctors at the hospital, comprising a cardiologist, cardiac surgeon, anaesthetist and an intensivist, were part of the highly complex repair surgery.
According to a statement from the hospital, because of the complexity of the case, there was a high chance that the attempt to plug the hole in his heart would produce a heart block, wherein a pacemaker would have to be inserted to correct the heart rate.
The surgery was performed on May 19 by a team headed by Dr. Shiv Prakash and comprising eight doctors, five nurses and technicians. It lasted around six to seven hours. Surgeries in such complex cases generally require 10 to 12 hours.
Sanket was taken off the ventilator the next day, and is now taking food orally and is breathing on his own. He is in the Intensive Care Unit and will be transferred to a regular ward in the next few days. He is likely to be discharged from the hospital in the next six to seven days.
Dr. Shreepal Jain, senior paediatric cardiologist at Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation, said, “This case highlights the importance of teamwork, meticulous planning and perfect execution in the peri-operative period. Very few hospitals in the country have the kind of surgical expertise and infrastructure required to carry out such a complex surgery on a kid. By undertaking this route, we have provided Sanket with a near normal heart and superior quality of life.”
